According to officials in Puebla state, a bus carrying migrants from Venezuela, Colombia, and central America overturned in central Mexico, killing 17 people and injuring many more, according to news agency Reuters.
Interior Minister of Puebla Julio Huerta was quoted as saying that the collision happened on a highway on Sunday afternoon as the bus carrying 45 passengers was travelling north.
At the time of the accident, fifteen people died, he told reporters. He said two of the additional 15 hospitalised patients later died. Five more people are still in serious condition.
The local prosecutor’s office claims that a bus run by the Tours Turisticos Medina private bus company flipped while travelling from the southern Mexican border city of Tapachula to Mexico City. The accident claimed the lives of 17 people, including the bus driver and his assistant. The number of migrants who died or were injured was not specifically stated by Puebla state officials, and the Mexican migration institute at the time made no comments. On their way to the US border, migrants frequently travel along dangerous routes through Mexico.
A 56-year-old Colombian man was among the fatalities, according to Colombia’s foreign ministry, and three Colombian survivors (two men and a woman) were being treated in a hospital in Puebla. The neighbouring state of Oaxaca received the release of an unharmed man to immigration authorities. No Guatemalans were among the victims, according to a spokesperson for Guatemala’s foreign ministry.
According to Mexican media outlets, the bus lost control and crashed. Images from the Milenio television station showed the bus to be severely damaged in some areas. Last week, when their bus fell off a cliff, dozens of migrants died in Panama’s worst-ever migration accident.
Post Your Comments